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OTTAWA—A former fighter pilot, a number cruncher, an air force commander and a skeptic will oversee Ottawa’s revived search for a new fighter jet as it pulls back from plans to buy the F-35.

Details of the government’s new search will be unveiled next week, likely Monday or Tuesday, along with a dramatically higher price tag if Ottawa went ahead with its purchase of 65 Lockheed Martin F-35 jets.

That price tag, contained in a cost analysis by the accounting firm KPMG, rings in at about $40 billion and includes the costs of buying and operating the fleet of jets for 42 years, the expected lifespan.

Stung by mounting costs and criticism of a bungled purchase, the federal Conservatives are shaking up their procurement process once more, this time naming an independent expert panel to oversee the work of federal officials.

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At the heart of their work are two key questions: What capabilities does the air force need in its next fighter and what jet best meets those demands?

Candidates include the Boeing Super Hornet, an upgrade of the CF-18 now flown by the RCAF; the French-designed Dassault Rafale; the Swedish Saab Gripen; and the Eurofighter Typhoon.

That work, expected to take about three months, will be monitored and reviewed by an independent panel that includes:

• Philippe Lagassé, an assistant professor of public and international affairs at the University of Ottawa, who has raised pointed questions about the process to purchase the F-35. He wrote earlier this year, “The key question that must be asked is why the F-35 is the only possible future fighter aircraft for the Canadian Forces.”

• Retired Lt.-Gen. Charles Bouchard who headed the NATO air war over Libya in 2011 that included CF-18s. He brings the experience of someone who commanded the use of jets in a recent conflict.

• Keith Coulter, past chief of the Communications Security Establishment and a former fighter pilot who commanded a CF-18 squadron and was also a member of the Snowbirds aerobatic team.

• Rod Monette, a former federal comptroller-general and chartered accountant who served with the defence department.

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At the heart of the current review is the question whether military brass became fixated on the F-35 early on at the expense of other, cheaper planes.

In a report last spring, Auditor General Michael Ferguson concluded the defence department had publicly lowballed the costs of operating the jet and failed to make the case that the F-35 justified a sole-source contract.

Still, officials stressed again Friday that the F-35 is not dead and could still wind up in Canadian skies if the new review decides it’s the best jet.

Opposition MPs jumped on the government Friday, accusing Defence Minister Peter MacKay and other Conservatives of botching the purchase and misleading Canadians about its cost.

NDP MP Jack Harris took aim at what he called a “litany of Conservative failure and mismanagement.”

“When will Conservatives come clean, admit their misguided plan has failed and finally agree to have an open and transparent competition,” he said in the Commons.

Liberal MP John McKay recited some of the defence minister’s past arguments in favour of the F-35, including his warning that without the new stealth fighter, Canada risked losing its sovereignty, unable to defend its airspace.

“More arrogance from the minister. He was wrong on the plane, wrong on the numbers, wrong all together. Enough is enough, when will the minister resign,” McKay said.

Conservative MPs, once unabashed backers of the F-35, were subdued in their response, saying only that “comprehensive” updates would be made public before the Commons’ Christmas break, scheduled for Dec. 14.

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